The film stars who went bankrupt

Hollywood veteran Gary Busey, most famous for playing the villain in ‘Lethal Weapon’, has filed for bankruptcy.

According to a bizarre statement from his manager (and spotted by TheWrap), his filing for chapter 7 bankruptcy is the conclusion of years of "unfortunate choices, associations, events and circumstances that visited themselves upon this great American icon".

It goes on to compare Busey, who appeared in ‘Celebrity Wife Swap’ last year, with great American institutions like General Motors and American Airlines, who have also struggled financially.

[Related story: Real-life Jerry Maguire goes bust]

The papers reveal that Busey’s assets are £31,000 or less, while he owes between £315,000 and £630,000.

The bankruptcy will allow the actor to “start a new and clear path to peace, happiness and success with his career.”

Busey appeared in a string of classics in the 80s and 90s, such as ‘Lethal Weapon’, ‘Point Break’ and ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’. Recently though his career has stalled, with TV roles and low-budget clunkers (such as ‘Blizhniy Boy: The Ultimate fighter’ and ‘Lady Samurai’) clogging up his resume.

Busey joins a surprisingly long list of Hollywood stars forced to file for bankruptcy. Including…

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Mickey Rooney

The diminutive star went bust in 1962 after owing the Internal Revenue Service £1.1 million. He blamed the age-old cocktail of alcohol, drugs and gambling for his debts.

Zsa Zsa Gabor

It was a tasteless joke that cost the actress her fortune.  One of the most bizarre libel suits ever saw Zsa Zsa and her hubby lose £2.2 million for making disparaging remarks to a German magazine about actress Elke Sommer. Zsa Zsa said Sommer “lives from hand-knit pullovers she sells for $150” and looked like a “balding 100-year-old grandmother”. The lawsuit put her into bankruptcy.

Walt Disney

The founder of one of the world’s biggest entertainment corporations filed for bankruptcy when a client pulled out of his first company, the amazingly-named Laugh-O-Gram Corporation, in 1920. His family gave him a loan and in 1928 Walt created Mickey Mouse.

Burt Reynolds

Man’s man Burt lost most of his cash because of a messy divorce from Loni Anderson, bad investments in duff Florida restaurants and his generally lavish lifestyle. He declared himself bankrupt in 1996 but was soon back on his feet. 

Kim Basinger

Her first mistake was buying the whole town of Braselton, Georgia in 1989 for £12.6 million. Basinger intended to turn it into a tourist attraction but struggled to pay for it all. The actress was then sued for breach of contract after pulling out of ‘Boxing Helena’. She couldn’t pay the damages and filed for bankruptcy in 1993. 

Randy Quaid

Irony alert! According to the LA Times, Randy and wife Evi went bankrupt in 2000 after they made a film (she directed, he acted) called ‘The Debtors’. It was never released. The life of the Quaids would get even stranger in future years; the couple are apparently still on the run in Canada, claiming “Hollywood star whackers" are after them.

Ray Winstone

He’s been bankrupt twice, in the late seventies and early eighties according to an interview in The Daily Mail. He said: “I could never deal with the paperwork… No shame in it. I got to a stage where there was no light at the end of the tunnel.